At first glance, the images of overturned tables and blood-soaked walls seemed to tell a familiar story. The setting—Kampala, the laid-back capital of Uganda, during the World Cup championship last week—was new, but the lesson of the latest global terrorist bombings was by now routine: jihadi groups are ruthless, unpredictable, and prone to metastasize. Chaotic backwaters in the Horn of Africa can spawn threats just as dangerous as those in the Middle East and South Asia.

The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories has more than doubled since 1993, but the numbers are misleading. The fastest-growing cohort—nearly one third—are the ultra-Orthodox, who tend to be far less hawkish than the ultranationalists removed from Gaza in 2005. Another third are "economic settlers," who moved to the West Bank for the cheap rents and short commutes to Jerusalem. Many could probably be persuaded to leave with the right financial incentives. And for all the talk of "natural growth," only 9,602 babies were born to settlers in 2007, while 17,007 newcomers moved in, according to Peace Now. Raising barriers to further immigration could have a big impact.

Israel's hawkish new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in office for only a little more than a month, yet some Israeli doves say they're already seeing signs of new hardline security measures. Israeli police fanned out in a crackdown on draft dodgers—a problem for the military. Ceramic artist Annelien Kisch, a member of a peace group called New Profile, says four police showed up at her house at 7 a.m., flashed a search warrant and then confiscated two of her computers. Although no charges were filed, authorities say New Profile and another group, Target 21, offer detailed tips on their Web sites about how to evade mandatory military service. Potential draft dodgers "ought to speak softly or stumblingly" at interviews with Army psychiatrists, one post on Target 21 suggests. "A downcast look, a weak tone of voice and obsessive playing with your gun" can also help, the group counsels.The site includes a disclaimer insisting that the material is not intended as an instruction...

Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has long governed a tinderbox. His party survived armed clashes with separatist rebels in the country's south and Houthi tribesmen in the north. Al Qaeda is also a growing threat. Last month a suicide bomber detonated himself at a crowded archeological site in Yemen, killing four South Korean tourists, and earlier this month CentCom chief Gen. David Petraeus warned that Yemen was becoming a safe haven for Qaeda militants. Saleh spoke with NEWSWEEK's Kevin Peraino at his palace in Sanaa. Excerpts:
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Never mind the two front runners for prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni. Israelis are chattering about Orly Levy, 35, a former fashion model running for Parliament from the state's hard-right Israel Beitenu Party. Wags have made quick work of her campaign; Israel's version of "Saturday Night Live" mocked her as a dilettante, and even Levy admits her résumé is thin. "I have no political experience at all," she told NEWSWEEK. "This would be like Paris Hilton going to the Senate," says author and filmmaker Etgar Keret. "You could make a reality show about this."According to the latest polls, Levy's ultranationalist party is surging, and could win as many as 18 seats in Israel's Knesset on Tuesday. Led by Russian émigré Avigdor Lieberman, the party has capitalized on Israel's bellicose postwar mood, snatching votes away from both hawks like Netanyahu and doves like Livni. Lieberman probably won't get enough votes to be prime minister. But he may well be a kingmaker—good...

Never mind Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni. Israelis are chattering about the candidacy of Orly Levy, a 35-year-old former fashion model running for Parliament from the state's hard-right Israel Beitenu party. Local wags have made quick work of her thin résumé, and even Levy herself admits, "I have no political experience at all." Some Israelis are amused. "This would be like Paris Hilton going to the Senate," says filmmaker Etgar Keret. "You could make a reality show about this."A scary one: according to the latest polls, Levy's ultranationalist party is surging, and could win as many as 18 seats in Israel's Knesset on Tuesday. Led by Russian émigré Avigdor Lieberman, the party has capitalized on Israel's bellicose post-war mood to snatch votes from both hawks like Netanyahu and doves like Livni. Lieberman probably won't get enough votes to be prime minister. Yet the populist may well be a kingmaker—good news for Levy, who is high on Lieberman's list for parliamentary seats.For...

One morning this past summer, Barack Obama sat down around a conference table in Jerusalem's King David Hotel with Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel's Likud Party. Neither man ran a country but both had high hopes. The talk was "like a hypothetical business discussion" among "two people who knew they might be working together," says a Netanyahu associate who was present but requested anonymity to speak freely. But that's where the similarities stop. Netanyahu, 59, is an unreconstructed hawk, raised in the cold war's shadow. Obama listened politely, but the gap was obvious. "Obama, clearly, is a product of a new age," says the Israeli.The Jewish state, on the other hand, may be on the verge of slipping into an older one. Israel's doves are struggling. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced last week that she had failed to form a government; lawmakers set elections for February. The biggest beneficiary is likely to be Netanyahu, who's now even with Livni in polls. The Likud...